Anyone want to buy the Homeworld Franchise?

The good folks over at Space Sector have a nice article regarding the upcoming auction of THQ assets, namely Homeworld and Homeworld 2 in the same item.

All you would need is:

Interested bidders must provide: 1) complete identification, including the names of corporate officers or those authorized to act on the bidder’s behalf; 2) written evidence of authority to enter into the anticipated transaction; and 3) proof of financial ability to perform the contemplated transaction. Only those bidders who meet all three requirements will be provided access to confidential information about each lot of titles once a non-disclosure agreement has been executed. Documentation meeting these three requirements should be sent to auction@thq.com.

When Sega plucked Relic from the ashes of THQ last month, it appears they didn’t get the Homeworld license along with it. So for now the sublime space RTS series remains without a home, in an odd case of life imitating art. The Homeworld IP is now up for sale in an auction of THQ’s remaining stuff – as is the likes of Supreme Commander, Red Faction, Darksiders, Titan Quest, Full Spectrum Warrior and a whole host of names known and forgotten.

It’s a sad business, and while I’m sometimes no fan of sequel culture, the concept of some of these once-great names simply ceasing to be is not a happy one. Hopefully non-exploitative, non-cynical buyers can be found for the main stuff. Wouldn’t it be nice (and not exactly implausible, given the publisher’s increasing PC-focus) if Sega did scoop up Homeworld, and reunite it with its creators? Or perhaps Gas Powered Games’ new owners Wargaming.net could salvage SupCom.

We’ll find out the fate of these names, all being well, in May. Highest bidder for each of the below lots takes ‘em home. If you are a rich person or company interested in acquiring any of ‘em, you’ve got until the first of April to declare your intentions and proffered monies to auction@thq.com.

Here’s the complete list of what’s up for sale. Godspeed, brave videogame franchises.

Howeworld is not a game that would succeed today. Why? Because it's in real 3D. Remember how you entered coordinates for movement in Homeworld 1, by first inputting horizontal movement, then adding vertical? Not something casual users would do. And how you gonna control it via a gamepad on your trusty console? And all those microscopic letters, and all the numbers, and radar blips?

Nono, for today's market, everything has to be big, colorful, stupid and easy. XCOM paved the way.

Bidding Closed on Sale of Remaining THQ

Assets

17 bids received for Darksiders, Red Faction,

Homeworld and more.

by Andrew Goldfarb

APRIL 19, 2013

Bidding has closed on the auction for the remaining intellectual property assets of THQ. As THQ confirmed in February, bids were received until April 15th for remaining assets including Darksiders, Red Faction, Homeworld and more, and sales are expected to be finalized by mid-May.

According to Polygon, court documents reveal that 17 final bids were received and are expected to bring in between $6-7 million. While the specific breakdown of bids and prices per property haven’t been disclosed, the documents do note that six different lots were up for auction (though we don't know whether all six lots received bids):

In a Kickstarter update yesterday, indie developer TeamPixel noted that “the auction for the Homeworld license ended April 15, 2013, and while we reached qualified bidder status for the bankruptcy auction, we were unable to raise the necessary funds to remain competitive against the other parties at the auction." Magicka publisher Paradox Interactive had the third-highest bid in the process, while Sins of a Solar Empire publisher Stardock had the second-highest. The identity of the winning bidder is still unknown.

Interestingly, court documents also reveal that the intellectual property and website of de Blob developer Blue Tongue Studios were purchased by "a holding company for water and solvent inks" for $15,000.